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Bael
Bael (sometimes spelled Baal, Baël (French), Baell) is in 17th Century goetic occult writings one of the seven princes of the Underworld. The name is drawn from the Canaanite deity Baal mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the primary god of the Phoenicians. While his Semitic predecessor was depicted as a man or a bull, the demon Baal was in grimoire tradition said to appear in the forms of a man, cat, toad, or combinations thereof. An illustration in Collin de Plancy's 1818 book Dictionnaire Infernal rather curiously placed the heads of the three creatures onto a set of spider legs. Etymology The Semitic god Hadad was worshipped by Arameans was also called "The Lord" (Ba`al) and ruled over the high gods assembled on the holy mount of Heaven. Other spellings: Bael, Baël (French), Baell. "Ba'al" is a Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord", cognate to Assyrian Belucan that refers to any god and even to human officials. Because more than one god bore the title "Ba'al" and more than one goddess bore the title "Ba'alat" or "Ba``alah," only the context of a text can indicate which Ba'al 'lord' or Ba'alath 'Lady' a particular inscription or text is speaking of. Ba'al Pe’or, the lord of Mount Pe’or, whom Israelites were forbidden from worshipping (Numbers 25:3) was also Hadad. Origin In 1899, the Encyclopædia Biblica article Baal by W. Robertson Smith and George F. Moore states: That Baal was primarily a sun-god was for a long time almost a dogma among scholars, and is still often repeated. This doctrine is connected with theories of the origin of religion which are now almost universally abandoned. The worship of the heavenly bodies is not the beginning of religion. Moreover, there was not, as this theory assumes, one god Baal, worshipped under different forms and names by the Semitic peoples, but a multitude of local Baals, each the inhabitant of his own place, the protector and benefactor of those who worshipped him there. Even in the astro-theology of the Babylonians the star of Bel was not the sun: it was the planet Jupiter. There is no intimation in the OT that any of the Canaanite Baals were sun-gods, or that the worship of the sun (Shemesh), of which we have ample evidence, both early and late, was connected with that of the Baals ; in 2 K. 235 cp 11 the cults are treated as distinct. Rank According to the le Grand Grimoire, Bael is the head of the infernal powers. He is also the first demon listed in Wierus' Pseudomonarchia daemonum. According to Wierus, Bael is first king of the Underworld with estates in the East. According to Collin de Plancy, Baal is a Duke, with sixty-six legions of demons under his command. Appearance While his Semitic predecessor was depicted as a man or a bull, the demon Baal was in grimoire tradition said to appear in the forms of a man, cat, toad, or combinations thereof. An illustration in Collin de Plancy's 1818 book Dictionnaire Infernal rather curiously placed the heads of the three creatures onto a set of spider legs. Powers According to Francis Barrett, Bael has the power to make those who invoke him invisible, and to some other demonologists his power is stronger in October. According to some sources, he can make people wise, and speaks hoarsely and necromancyy History In the ancient world of the Persian Empire, the idols were called "ba`als", each of which represented a local spirit-deity or "demon". Until archaeological digs at Ras Shamra and Ebla uncovered texts explaining the Syrian pantheon, the demon Ba‘al Zebûb was frequently confused with those various Semitic spirits and deities. Early demonologists, unaware of Hadad or that "Ba`al" in the Bible referred to any number of local spirits, came to regard the term as referring to but one personage. The idea of Baal as one specific demon was created when Christianity regarded ancient pagan gods as demons and demonology divided the demonic population of the Underworld in several hierarchies. Category:Demons Category:Demons in Christianity Category:Demons in Judaism Category:Goetic demons Category:False Idols Category:Kings of Hell Category:Spirits of Solomon Category:Sephiroth, the Ten Evil Category:Dukes of Hell Category:Males Category:Deities in the Hebrew Bible